On a recent evening near a secure U.S. facility, three federal agents saw a flying object they could not identify: a large “matte black triangle” that moved as fast as a fighter jet, made no sound and then disappeared, according to reports from the FBI and Department of Defense.
Why it’s important: The 15-foot flying triangle is classified as an “unidentified anomalous phenomenon” of the UFO type because the United States does not have the technology to make such a craft – and neither do its adversaries.
- Reports of drone-style aircraft are of growing interest and concern to intelligence and military officials.
Driving the news: The two reports on the mysterious triangle were included in a batch of 10 documents released Friday by U.S. officials under orders from President Trump this year to release UAP records from all government sources as soon as possible.
- Some of the documents found at the National Archives date from the 1940s.
Zoom: The flying triangle reports are the most intriguing because the incident – which occurred this year – is so recent. The month and day are redacted. The FBI document is titled “Unidentified Aerial Object Observation Report” and the Department of Defense’s report on it is classified as an “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” report.
- The observers were federal agents, including two with “extensive operational experience” and familiarity with drones. One of them had a “thermal monocular” for infrared tracking and yet could not detect “discrete heat sources associated with propulsion” coming from an engine of the mysterious craft.
- Officers reported seeing the drone-shaped triangle, with a wingspan of about 15 feet, rise vertically up to 300 feet above a mountain ridge without tilting or swaying. It stopped, hovered for about 20 seconds, then flew horizontally as fast as a fighter jet for about 1.5 miles in three seconds without making a sound before disappearing.
The plot: One of the documents released Friday does not concern a flying object. It’s a declassified 2010 report on the Utah property known as “Skinwalker Ranch,” named after the supernatural shapeshifting witches of the Navajo culture.
- “Witnesses reported unidentified balls of light at close range, daytime sightings of “dog-like” creatures running on two legs, unnatural animal howls/screams, “little people,” prehistoric-like birds, and a maggot measuring approximately 8 feet long and 2 to 3 feet in diameter,” the report states.
- The report’s authors offer no definitive conclusions or tangible evidence, such as photographs, of the supernatural. DNA testing of a clump of hair from a suspected “Skinwalker” showed it came from a raccoon.
- The ranch is now the subject of a Netflix show.
Other elements of the tranche include:
- A 1954 report from a Swedish Transair pilot who stated that he and his crew had witnessed flying saucers: “Previously I was extremely skeptical of all the stories of mysterious objects – called flying saucers – which were seen in various places,” the captain said. “Now I don’t know exactly what to think, but it seemed to me that we saw some kind of robot.”
- A 1957 report from a B-52 pilot over Saudi Arabia who said he saw an unidentified aircraft.
- 1949 and a 1952 UFO report from California’s Catalina Island, site of some of the nation’s first “flying saucer” sightings.
- A 1963 interagency coordination memo and documents from the 1960s regarding how NASA and the Department of Defense would manage and publicly discuss the collection of “fragments or suspected fragments of space vehicles of all types.”
Yes, but: The documents released by the administration express no conclusions about whether the government believes UAPs represent the existence of extraterrestrial life.
- They also do not indicate any conclusions about whether UAPs pose a threat to U.S. national security.
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